San Fran Water Supply in OK Shape, but Officials Keep on Pressure

San Fran Water Supply in OK Shape, but Officials Keep on Pressure – Four years into a drought that has left many cities and farms desperate for water, the vast Sierra-fed water system that serves San Francisco and much of the Bay Area is in relatively good shape.

Officials say the water system should get the region through the dry months ahead. San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which captures snowmelt from Yosemite National Park, that supplies 2.6 million people, is more than 90 percent full, far better than most of the state’s lower-elevation reservoirs. But city water officials aren’t taking chances.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission launched a new conservation push Tuesday to preserve its pristine mountain supply, just as snow vanishes above the lake and runoff begins to dry up with summer. The continued push for water savings comes as the state’s largest reservoirs are sinking to lower-than-normal levels at a time of year when they should be running high.

Harlan Kelly, general manager of the commission, said that customers showed last year that they know hoe to save water, and they should continue to do that this year.

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